• Contact Us
  • Business News

Canning Cultural Ambassadors

Home
City Services
Community Initiatives
Canning Cultural Ambassadors

The Canning Cultural Ambassadors program connects Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) communities and the City.

Cultural Ambassadors are recruited to play an engagement role with their communities. They help with information flow and feedback between their community and the City.

Cultural Ambassadors:

  • possess bilingual skills
  • live locally
  • are well connected to their community
  • commit to attending a minimum of 10 monthly meetings
  • require obtaining of a Police Clearance and a Working with Children check.

The program objectives are to:

  • increase the community's awareness of and access to City services
  • identify opportunities for the City to improve services and activities to better meet community needs
  • foster dialogue to reduce barriers and enhance participation
  • build intercultural understanding and relationships.

The program is integrated into the City’s volunteer program, and as a result, it adheres to its guidelines. This implies that ambassadors who are City volunteers must relinquish their ambassador role if they assume any paid positions within the City, including if they run for, or are elected to the City of Canning Council. Additional details can be found in the Position Description (PDF 700KB) and the Volunteers Handbook (PDF 930KB).

Application Process

  • The city initiates a public Expression of Interest (EOI) call out for a limited time – Interested parties submit their application through the online EOI form.
  • Review of applications – Shortlisted candidates are contacted to schedule an interview.
  • Interview of candidates – Applicants attend a face-to-face interview conducted by one or two City officers. A reference check is also done at this stage.
  • End of process – Applicants are notified of the outcome. Successful applicants are appointed Canning Cultural Ambassadors for x10 months.

The City of Canning acknowledges the support of Lotterywest, Curtin University and Multicultural Futures in helping to establish the program.

Download the Canning Cultural Ambassador Program presentation (PDF 8MB) to learn more.

Cultural Ambassadors

A photo of Anbumoly Kuppusamy

Anbumoly Kuppusamy

Country of birth: Malaysia.

What culture/s do you identify as: Tamil – Malaysian / Indian.

Languages spoken: fluent in Tamil, Malay, English, Telugu Hindi Intermediate: Malayalam and Arabic. Basic in Cantonese.

A photo of Dr Cynthi Senarath Yapa

Dr Cynthi Senarath Yapa

Country of birth: Sri Lanka.

What culture/s do you identify as: Sinhalese.

Languages spoken: fluent in English and Sinhalese.

A photo of Hameed Mohammad

Hameed Mohammad

Country of birth: India.

What culture/s do you identify as: Indian and Arab Culture.

Languages spoken: fluent in English, Telugu, Hindi, Urdu. Intermediate in Nepalese. Basic in Tamil and Italian.

A photo of Haneen Shehadeh

Haneen Shehadeh

Country of birth: Qatar.

What culture/s do you identify as: Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim.

Languages spoken: fluent in Arabic and English.

A photo of Jess Yaping Jiang JP

Jess Yaping Jiang JP

Country of birth: China.

What culture/s do you identify as: Chinese.

Languages spoken: fluent in Mandarin and English.

A photo of Dr Khanh Ho

Dr Khanh Ho

Country of birth: Vietnam.

What culture/s do you identify as: Vietnamese.

Languages spoken: fluent in Vietnamese and English.

A photo of Marwiah Liklee

Marwiah Liklee

Country of birth: Singapore.

What culture/s do you identify as: Malay.

Languages spoken: fluent in English and Malay.

A photo of Padmini Saxena

Padmini Saxena

Country of birth: India.

What culture/s do you identify as: I am an Indian Hindu woman.

Languages spoken: fluent in English, Hindi and Urdu. Intermediate in Punjabi.

A photo of Rasha Abdelmonem

Rasha Abdelmonem

Country of birth: Egypt.

What culture/s do you identify as: Muslim Egyptian Arabic.

Languages spoken: fluent in Arabic and English. Intermediate in Mandarin.

A photo of Sabah Suleiman

Sabah Suleiman

Country of birth: Ethiopia.

What culture/s do you identify as: Eritrean /Sudanese/Ethiopian.

Languages spoken: fluent in Tigrinya, Arabic, Ethiopian and English.

A photo of Dr Siddier Chambers

Dr Siddier Chambers

Country of birth: Jamaica.

What culture/s do you identify as: Jamaican/Caribbean culture and African culture.

Languages spoken: fluent in English and Patois.

A photo of Dr Udbhav Mehta

Dr Udbhav Mehta

Country of birth: India.

What culture/s do you identify as: Gujarati.

Languages spoken: fluent in English, Gujarati and Hindi. Basic in Marathi and Punjabi.

A photo of Verna Kanagaratnam

Verna Kanagaratnam

Country of birth: Malaysia.

What culture/s do you identify as: Ceylonese.

Languages spoken: fluent in English, Malay, Tamil, Cantonese and Indonesian.

A photo of Zainon Mohamad Kassim

Zainon Mohamad Kassim

Country of birth: Singapore.

What culture/s do you identify as: Indian Muslim.

Languages spoken: fluent in English and Malay. Basic in Tamil.

Amit Mehta

Cultural background: Indian
Languages spoken: Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi and English
Profile video

Ankur Verma

Cultural background: Indian
Languages spoken: Hindi, Marathi and English
Profile video

Astit Olszowy and Richard Olszowy

Cultural background: Indonesian and Polish
Languages spoken: Indonesian, Dutch and English
Profile video

Balli Singh

Cultural background: Indian (Punjabi)
Languages spoken: Punjabi, Hindi and English
Read biography

Elvie Yap

Cultural background: Chinese
Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, Malay and English
Profile video

Hyejin Um (Grace)

Cultural background: Korean
Languages spoken: Korean and English
Read biography

Israa Sedda

Cultural background: Arabic-Muslim
Languages spoken: Arabic and English
Read biography

Jayaseelan Marimuthu

Cultural background: Malaysian
Languages spoken: Tamil, Malay and English
Read biography

Karunakaran Kutty Veluthakkal

Cultural background: Singaporean
Languages spoken: English, Hindi and Malayalam
Read biography

Kirtida Shah

Cultural background: Indian
Languages spoken: Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi and English
Profile video

Luul Ibrahim

Cultural background: Somali
Languages spoken: Somali and English
Profile video

Dr S Zaung Nau

Cultural background: Myanmar
Languages spoken: Myanmar (Burmese) and English
Profile video

Dr Sadhana Bose

Cultural background: Indian
Languages spoken: English, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi and Sanskri
Read biography

Santhye Subramaniam

Cultural background: Malaysian
Languages spoken: Tamil, Malay and English
Read biography

Selam Tegegn

Cultural background: (Ethiopian – Eritrean) Sub-Saharan Africa
Languages spoken: Amharic, Swahili and English
Read biography

Simrat Kaur

Cultural background: Indian
Languages spoken: Hindi, Punjabi and English
Profile video

Syed Muzaffar Ahmed

Cultural background: Bangladeshi
Languages spoken: Bengali and English
Profile video

Syeda Maisara Muzaffar

Cultural background: Bangladeshi
Languages spoken: Bengali and English
Read biography

Vijayakumar Vijayaratnam

Cultural background: Malaysian
Languages spoken: Tamil, Malay and English
Read biography

Wageesha Gamage

Cultural background: Sri Lankan
Languages spoken: Sinhalese and English
Read biography

Was this page helpful?

Thank you for your feedback!